Made for Each Other, Together Again!

In Feather Emperor City, beneath a waterside pavilion, Madara and Chiri stood shoulder to shoulder. The rippling lake before them reflected two faces, each lost in thought.

After a long silence, Chiri turned to Madara. "Do you still hate me?"

"Hate you?" Madara murmured. "Why would I...?"

The answer lay in a history long past.

Chiri had been born in the latter half of the Warring States era, when war raged across the land.

Her father belonged to the Uchiha Clan, and her mother to the Uzuki Clan.

Conditions were harsh, and Chiri's mother died shortly after giving birth to her.

An army on the march had no spare hands to protect a newborn. The ninja had their own way of dealing with that.

Most ninja clans maintained shelters among civilians, run by disabled veterans who could no longer fight on the front lines and by peripheral clan members.

Children born amid the fighting were usually sent there to be raised and trained in ninjutsu, preserving them as reserve forces for their clans.

Naturally, the locations of these shelters were closely guarded secrets. If an enemy clan discovered one, it would spare no effort to wipe it out.

Then the Uzuki Clan's shelter was exposed. The Uchiha Clan came to purge it.

Three young Uchiha stormed inside, swinging their Ninja Blades and slaughtering everyone without mercy, regardless of age or sex. Mercy to an enemy was cruelty to oneself—that was the rule they had to live by in wartime.

Only an unbelievable sight made them stop.

A little girl with purple hair held another little girl's body. Tears streamed from eyes that glared at them with a young Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

That purple-haired girl was Chiri, only ten years old.

The three exchanged looks. Realizing the significance of what they had